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Epitaph Two: Return
"Epitaph Two: Return" is the thirteenth episode of the second season of Dollhouse, the 26th overall and the series finale. It was written by Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon and Andrew Chambliss, and directed by David Solomon. Originally scheduled to air on January 22, 2010, the episode was rescheduled to January 29, 2010, due to Fox's airing of "Hope for Haiti Now," a telethon fundraiser to aid the victims of the January 12 earthquake in Haiti. All five English-language TV networks in the United States, along with the Public Broadcasting System and several cable channels, aired the two-hour telethon on January 22. Synopsis In the year 2020, one year after the events of "Epitaph One," Caroline, still in the body of Iris, is travelling with Zone and Mag on their way to Safe Haven, fighting off the Butchers as they go. After reaching Tucson, however, they are kidnapped by a group of still-human mercenaries and taken to the former headquarters of Rossum. Tucson is now known as Neuropolis, the City of Minds. Safe Haven is ironically located next to Neuropolis, as, according to Caroline, those surviving in Safe Haven must steal tech and food from the city to survive. There, Mr. Harding lives on in a series of bodies along with Clive Ambrose, the last of Rossum's cabal of leaders. Harding is now a fat man surrounded by vice, leaving Ambrose disgusted with him -- they call their new bodies "skins" and Harding laughs that he has stretched his out too far. Ambrose presents him with a group of attractive young naked men to choose from for his newest body. After seeing Paul Ballard -- apparently wiped -- Harding runs from the room. Ballard reveals that he is faking and takes out the guards. Meanwhile, Echo appears with a group of friends and rescues the Actuals. She learns of Iris/Caroline's identity and takes it in stride, and then reveals her and Paul's true mission: to rescue Topher. Topher had been kidnaped by Rossum in order to amplify his tech to complete a global mind-wipe. When he doesn't accomplish his task, a new innocent victim is murdered in front of him. As a result, Topher has fallen into apparently irreparable schizophrenia. However, he reveals that he has secretly forced himself to design a way to restore the world to its true order. Echo, after assassinating Harding once more, leads the group to Safe Haven, where Adelle DeWitt and Priya Tsetsang are living together with a young boy named T, who is Priya's son. After introductions, the group discusses the implications of what Topher is capable of, and they realize that if they used the tech, it would mind-wipe all with Active architecture, so that they would forget. In order to keep their minds and to get Topher the tech they need, they must all go underground and return to the Dollhouse. Caroline reveals to Paul that Echo is still in love with him, even if she won't say it. Tony Ceccoli and a group of fierce tech-head warriors arrive in order to transport them to LA, which is now a war zone. Priya reveals that Tony's addiction to self-improvement by the tech has led to their breaking up, and that T is Tony's son. Tony and Priya agreed to keep T away from any and all technology, and thus away from Tony. T has no idea that Tony is his father. Zone and Mag argue about what to do, and Zone finally gives in and agrees to go with them. Mag reveals that she is a lesbian and attracted to one of the tech-heads. On the road trip, Priya and Tony fight about what he gave up in order to continue down the technological path, and she tells him that he did everything for her but the one thing she asked him to. He tells her that he's been fighting the war for her, and for their son, and they can't come to an agreement. Adelle continues to try to coax Topher to calm down, but even with Caroline's help she can't. It is revealed that the tech-heads can't download any new skills without taking one away, and that only Echo can retain all of her imprints at once. Paul mentions that Echo has at least 100 imprints living within her, in her complete control. Meanwhile, Echo and Paul talk about Echo's loneliness, and how she never lets him in, even though they both want to. He indicates that they've been together sometimes when Echo was sure they were about to die, and Echo can't refute his words. They come to an understanding, though it is unresolved. When the group arrives in LA, they are met by the butchers. A vicious fight ensues as the group struggles to make it to the Dollhouse. When Mag is shot in the legs, Paul goes to help her and is shot in the head by a butcher. Echo takes the rest inside. There, they meet Alpha, who has taken over the LA Dollhouse and has turned it into a refuge for dolls once more, taking them all in. Apparently in the ten years since he downloaded Paul Ballard's personality within himself, Alpha has grown and evolved into a calm and peaceful person, who helped Echo develop Safe Haven. He and Echo and Victor embrace, and he displays grief at Paul's sudden death, which Echo won't face. Topher begins to work on the tech. Priya is horrified that she is once more within the Dollhouse and begins to take her anger at Tony out on the imprints. Echo joins her and forces her to understand how important it is that Tony is in love with her, and finally breaks down and grieves for Paul, that her one true love is gone and she is alone as always. Upstairs, the tech-heads stage an insurrection, led by Romeo, who wants all of the technology within the Dollhouse for himself. Alpha reveals that he can still call on his imprints and helps Echo dispatch them quickly. Tony renounces the tech. Adelle leads Topher to his bedchamber, still decorated with religious sigils and idols and mathmatical books. Alpha remarked that he left it that way because it spoke to "the schizophrenic" in him. Topher, back in his comfort zone, quickly decodes what he must do. Topher uses a video recording of Bennett Halverson that she had used as a Rossum instructional tool before the mass-wipe, and tenderly touches the recording of her lips and thanks her for the final stage. Topher reveals that a bomb must be activated manually from a high point, sending the signal into the ionosphere where it will cover the world and restore everyone to their original minds. He will kill himself to avoid hurting anyone else, and leaves Adelle the clean-up. He remarks that Adelle's job is harder. Adelle and Echo say goodbye, and Adelle remarks that it's ironic that the final fantasy the Dollhouse will grant will be Echo's. Echo says that she has no fantasies left, and Adelle hugs her goodbye. Alpha has left, in case he returns to the mind of Carl William Craft, a burgeoning serial killer and Alpha's original human personality. Mag and Zone say goodbye, and Zone promises to take care of Caroline when she turns back into a little girl. Mag reveals that she was a sociology student at Berkeley, and Zone was a landscape architect. Priya introduces T to Tony, and T reveals that he is named Tony after his father. Adelle, the shepherd of the dolls once more, leads the wiped dolls outside, leaving everyone else inside who must stay for a year to be protected from the wipes. Topher travels to Adelle's office at the top of the building and, after turning to look at the wall of pictures labelled "To Remember," detonates the blast, killing himself and releasing the cure into the world. The wiped humans all get knocked out and wake up in their own bodies. Zone takes a confused little girl under his wing, and Adelle returns to the Dollhouse, knowing that there are still byproducts of Rossum left to be hunted down and destroyed, such as the original copies of Harding, Ambrose, and Clyde. Echo finds a gift from Alpha and loads herself into the chair once more to see what the imprint wedge is. She realizes that Alpha has given her the full imprint of Paul Ballard. Since Echo can control the imprints living within her, she and Paul can converse whenever they want, and that she'll literally carry her lover inside of her for the rest of her days. As Adelle returns to the Dollhouse, Priya, Tony and T reunite, and the world begins to finally set itself to rights, Echo lays down within her sleeping pod with a smile on her face and goes to sleep for the last time, dreaming of Paul and a world restored to sanity. Cast Main cast *Eliza Dushku as Echo/Caroline Farrell *Harry Lennix as Boyd Langton (credit only) *Fran Kranz as Topher Brink *Tahmoh Penikett as Paul Ballard *Enver Gjokaj as Anthony Ceccoli *Dichen Lachman as Priya Tsetsang *and Olivia Williams as Adelle DeWitt Recurring roles *Alan Tudyk as Alpha *Summer Glau as Bennett Halverson Guest starring *Felicia Day as Mag *Zack Ward as Zone *Adair Tishler as Iris Miller/Caroline Farrell *Christian Monzon as Romeo *Noah Harpster as Matthew *Brandon Dieter as T *Unknown actress as Ann *Nate Dushku as Clive Ambross *Maurissa Tancharoen as Kilo Trivia *Amazon Video on Demand accidentally released "Epitaph Two: Return" prematurely, in the early morning of January 29 (in the eastern U.S.), but withdrew the online video after about an hour. *Amy Acker, Miracle Laurie, and Reed Diamond appear in the guest cast list in the press release for the episode, but they do not appear in the episode. *Writer Jed Whedon has a cameo appearance in the episode. Background information Production Principal photography went from December 8 to December 16, 2009. Category:Episodes